Superpitcher

As with a lot of other producers on Cologne, Germany's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kompakt%22">Kompakt</a> label, it's nearly impossible to predict what Aksel Schaufler, aka Superpitcher, will do next. He debuted in 1999 with a 7" in the Kreisel 99 series, then made his first appearance on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kompakt%22">Kompakt</a> proper a year later with "Shadows" -- an eerie trip-hop production seemingly designed to soundtrack a 3 A.M. drive down a foggy urban alley -- on the label's Total 2 compilation. In 2001, he contributed a track to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kompakt%22">Kompakt</a>'s first Speicher 12" and released Heroin, a three-track 12" with three different sounds; its dreamy, somber "Tomorrow" was later included on that year's Total 3. Released in 2002, Total 4 included yet another track from Schaufler, a straightforward electropop cover of <a href="spotify:artist:7MSUfLeTdDEoZiJPDSBXgi">Brian Eno</a>'s "Baby's on Fire." Soon after that, Schaufler released his second 12", Yesterday, which featured reworkings of "Tomorrow" and "Heroin." Schaufler handled steady remixing work for the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:1jf3CssdtSksxNa3uIpPzS">Dntel</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:44A3e7VYa7sXhYYgJK8E7y">Carsten Jost</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:14epVmvJSkurE9Jj0m5AEG">Contriva</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5grqGXJzsEbAf9wuY6eQNy">Phantom/Ghost</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:74dzDYmlHy0VkRX3eRheDF">the M.F.A.</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2rBcvLKWCZs9w1qIWv560v">Charlotte Gainsbourg</a>. Two production albums, Here Comes Love (2004) and Kilimanjaro (2010), as well as the mix album Today (2005), were issued on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kompakt%22">Kompakt</a>, which later rounded up highlights for So Far So Super, a double-vinyl anthology issued for Record Store Day 2016. He returned with new Superpitcher music in 2017 with The Golden Ravedays, a 24-track album that was issued as a dozen individual releases over the course of the year. In addition to his solo output, Schaufler has also collaborated with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Kompakt%22">Kompakt</a> don <a href="spotify:artist:5R9d1YP5jtBw2IrQItGzQI">Michael Mayer</a> (as <a href="spotify:artist:0xe3cDuR59Zm2RrkOSDkFO">SuperMayer</a>) and with Mauricio Rebolledo (as <a href="spotify:artist:7EqE0DBntJS6OUT4gK9W3P">Pachanga Boys</a>). ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi